6-22-11: Trucks, Trains, and Angry Neighbors

A project to widen the Panama Canal is expected to be finished by 2014. Why are we talking about that on Maryland Morning? Because it will mean that some megaships carrying cargo from Asia that now stop at Los Angeles or Long Beach will instead transit the canal to deliver their cargo to the East Coast–including the Port of Baltimore.

To efficiently handle the influx, the transportation company CSX wants to put that cargo on double-stack container cars which don’t fit through Baltimore’s antiquated Howard Street tunnel.

Many residents of those area object, and this morning we’ll hear some of those objections–and give CSX Vice President for Strategic Infrastructure Initiatives Louis Renjel an opportunity to address them.

You can see some of the listener comments here–and we welcome any additional thoughts. Leave a comment below, or email us at mdmorning@wypr.org.

I don’t remember hearing any “good” community feedback at any of the workshops as the CSX spokesperson stated in the broadcast. All of the feedback I heard as NEGATIVE, and I was at TWO of the four sessions. Your broadcast is also the first time any mention of receiving Federal funding has come into play: in all of the public sessions, CSX and MDOT have categorically denied any federal funding being involved in the project.. so once again, the residents and Maryland have been misled.

The above notwithstanding, I am not totally opposed to the facility — just its construction either of the Howard County sites or Beltsville. It belongs at the Brock Bridge Road location,.

Well i’m opposed to it in elkridge, having been raised in south baltimore close to the rail yard it was a blessing to move to Elkridge to get away from the yards and the Rats it breeds. Brock bridge would be the best location as it contains the armpit of society already it would be a natural fit.